The present patent disclosure relates generally to application management, and more specifically, to application management in a short-range wireless system.
Short-range wireless systems provide interconnections between wireless devices, and wireless accessories. Generally, short-range wireless systems use a wireless personal area network (PAN), which uses low-cost, low-power wireless devices that have a typical range of tens of meters.
An example of a wireless PAN technology is Bluetooth™. Bluetooth™ operates in the 2.4 GHz Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) band and provides a peak air-link speed of one Mbps and a power consumption low enough for use in personal, portable electronics such as a personal digital assistants or mobile phones.
A piconet is a network linking a group of wireless devices that are physically close enough to exchange information using Bluetooth™. Wireless devices joining and leaving the network as they enter and leave the proximity of the remaining wireless devices. Each Bluetooth™ device is capable to find other Bluetooth™ devices as they enter and leave the effective range of the short-range wireless network. The requesting Bluetooth™ device in a client role and the responding Bluetooth™ device in a server role establish a proximity link between the two devices in a process called pairing. Two devices need to be paired once to communicate with each other; the pairing process is typically triggered automatically the first time a devices receives a connection request from a device it is not yet paired with. Once a pairing has been established, it is remembered by the devices, which can then connect to each without user intervention.
Other examples of wireless PAN technology include Infrared Data Association (IrDA), Ultra-Wideband (UWB), Z-Wave and ZigBee.
Today's wireless devices, such a BLACKBERRY, for example, are also multi-function devices which can function, for example, as a portable media player suitable for the consumer's entertainment consumption. Unfortunately, the process for launching the media player on an external device, such as external speakers or a video viewer, is tedious at best when compared to today's TVs and radios, which typically require only one button press for the user to lean back and begin enjoying the media presentation.
Advantageously to TV or radio, portable devices can travel from one entertainment environment to another, such as from an office to a car while providing contiguous entertainment from one space to the other. For example the user could listen to the same play list or internet radio station in both the office and the car using a wireless device such as a BLACKBERRY. Further, when traveling between locations, the application should pause, and resume when paired in the new location, thereby realizing a contiguous entertainment experience not possible with conventional radio or TV Portable devices.
Currently, when two wireless devices or a wireless device and a wireless accessory complete the paring, any application associated with the device or accessory is manually selected and launched by the user. In the example of a portable media player this often requires numerous manual entry events password entry, select application, launch application, choose play list, start playing.
Therefore, there is a need to provide a first wireless device, when paired with a second wireless device and/or a wireless accessory, to automatically launch an application associated with the second wireless device and/or the wireless accessory. There is further a need to provide a wireless device, when the wireless device moves from a first location to a second location, the wireless device automatically launches an application at the second location that was active at the first location.